educational intervention on undergraduate cancer awareness and self-directed learning

Traditional lecture-based learning (lbl) can increase cancer awareness in undergraduates. however, because of the rapidly changing knowledge base in medicine, undergraduates must develop skills required for lifelong self-directed learning (sdl). problem-based learning (pbl) has been suggested as an sdl approach. this study used a nonequivalent control group with a pretest-posttest design for comparing pbl and lbl for their effectiveness in increasing cancer awareness and sdl among nonmedicine or nonnursing major undergraduates in a health-related general education course. experimental groups 1 and 2 were instructed using pbl while the control group was instructed using lbl. cancer educational programs were offered to experimental group 1 and the control group but not to experimental group 2. among the 325 undergraduates who completed a questionnaire regarding cancer awareness and sdl in the pretest, 223 completed the 12-week follow-up survey of the posttest. cancer awareness significantly improved between the pretest and posttest in the control group (p < 0.001). no significant difference in cancer awareness improvement was observed between experimental group 1 and the control group (p = 0.934). cancer awareness improvement in experimental group 2 was significantly less than in the control group (p = 0.010). no statistically significant change in sdl was observed in the control group during the study (p = 0.897). however, the sdl of experimental groups 1 and 2 improved more significantly than that of the control group (p = 0.049 and 0.023, respectively). therefore, pbl is an effective method of increasing cancer awareness and sdl in undergraduates.